Monarca v. State

412 So. 2d 443
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 14, 1982
Docket81-227
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 412 So. 2d 443 (Monarca v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Monarca v. State, 412 So. 2d 443 (Fla. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

412 So.2d 443 (1982)

William MONARCA, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 81-227.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

April 14, 1982.

*444 James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Brynn Newton, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Evelyn D. Golden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.

COWART, Judge.

Appellant was charged in a two count indictment with first degree burglary (§ 810.02, Fla. Stat. (1979)) and sexual battery (§ 794.011, Fla. Stat. (1979)). Pursuant to guilty verdicts on both counts, the trial court sentenced appellant to concurrent thirty year terms on each count. Appellant now appeals, contending that: (1) the trial court erred in admitting certain hearsay testimony over objection; (2) separate convictions and sentences on both counts are barred by double jeopardy; and (3) the trial court erred in sentencing appellant as an adult without following the procedures set out in section 39.111(6), Florida Statutes (1979). We affirm.

At trial, the State presented the testimony of the prosecutrix, who testified to the following events. On the Sunday morning in question, she took a shower in preparation to go out shopping. As she stepped from the shower, the appellant grabbed her and held a pair of her sewing scissors to her throat. Appellant then dragged her into the bedroom, threw her on the bed and proceeded to rape her twice. He then asked her where her phone was and she told him it was in the kitchen. As he dragged her into the kitchen, she broke his grasp and ran out the back door screaming. Her neighbors arrived and some started chasing the appellant through the neighborhood, while others stayed with her. The police arrived in a matter of minutes and an officer proceeded to take her to the local hospital. However, before reaching the hospital, the officer was informed the police had a suspect in custody on a neighboring street. The officer and the victim turned around and went back to the neighboring street, where she positively identified the appellant. The officer then took her immediately to the hospital, where she was treated by a doctor and nurse, who took several tests. The State also presented the testimony of the nurse who had talked to the victim when she arrived at the hospital. The defense objected to allowing the nurse to repeat statements of the victim, arguing that whatever statements the victim made to the nurse about the events were "too distant in time." The trial court overruled the objection and allowed the nurse to repeat various statements concerning the assault that the prosecutrix had made to the nurse. *445 Finally, the State also established that the prosecutrix's sewing shears were found in the woods near her house and introduced into evidence the results of laboratory tests.[1]

The appellant was the only witness to testify for the defense. He testified that he was taking a walk on the morning of the arrest and was passing the back of the victim's house when she beckoned him inside. Although he admitted having intercourse with the victim, he asserted it was by mutual consent. He stated he ran from the house because she suddenly began screaming and yelling and he did not know why.

We hold the trial court did not err in allowing the nurse to testify. Generally, when the charge is one of rape, Florida has recognized a "first complaint" exception to the hearsay rule. Under this exception, the prosecutrix's testimony was corroborated by evidence that she complained of the outrage soon after its commission. Ellis v. State, 25 Fla. 702, 6 So. 768 (1889). This evidence was permissible, not to prove the crime itself, but to rebut the inference of consent which might be drawn from prolonged silence of the prosecutrix. Technically, this exception only went to the fact that the prosecutrix complained; the exception did not include detailed statements of the circumstances. Ellis. However, this technical distinction has relaxed with time and the substance of the prosecutrix' complaint, where it occurred shortly after the crime, has been admitted under the more general res gestae exception to the hearsay rule. See, e.g., Irvin v. State, 66 So.2d 288 (Fla. 1953), cert. denied, 346 U.S. 927, 74 S.Ct. 316, 98 L.Ed. 419 (1954); Fitter v. State, 261 So.2d 512 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972); Thomas v. State, 220 So.2d 638 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969); Gray v. State, 184 So.2d 206 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966).

In determining whether a statement is part of the res gestae, four factors have been noted:

1) the time gap between the statement and the [incident], 2) the voluntary nature of the declaration, 3) the self-serving nature of the statement, and 4) the declarant's physical and mental condition at the time of the statement.
Appell v. State, 250 So.2d 318, 321 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 257 So.2d 257 (Fla. 1971).

While time is an important factor, the spontaneity of the utterance is probably most controlling. Thus, res gestae is not limited only to those statements made simultaneously with the act in question.

All declarations and acts of the parties to a transaction which are contemporaneous with and accompany it, and are calculated to throw light upon the motives and intention of the parties to it, are admissible as parts of the res gestae. A more liberal statement of the rule as announced by many recent decisions is that, not only such declarations and acts as accompany the transaction are admissible as parts of the res gestae, but also such as are made or performed under such circumstances as will raise a reasonable presumption that they are the spontaneous utterance or act created by or springing out of the transaction itself, and so soon thereafter as to exclude the presumption that they were the result of premeditated design.
Washington v. State, 118 So.2d 650 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960).

These general philosophies of the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule are carried over into the present evidence code, section 90.803, Florida Statutes (1979). Thus in the instant case, since the proxecutrix' statements to the nurse were sufficiently close in time to the occurrence of the events and occurred under such circumstances that they could reasonably be presumed to be spontaneous, they were admissible under the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule.

*446 Appellant next contends that he could not be convicted and sentenced for sexual battery where the sexual battery was an "essential element" of the first degree burglary. Although not articulated by the appellant, the issue really turns on the application of the double jeopardy clause.

The double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against multiple punishments for the same offense. Therefore, when a person is charged with violating several statutes during the course of a single series of events, the several statutes must be analyzed to determine whether they constitute the same offense or not. The established test for determining whether two offenses are sufficiently distinguishable to permit the imposition of cumulative punishment is set out in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). There, it was stated:

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412 So. 2d 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/monarca-v-state-fladistctapp-1982.